Prince of Serpents
by storyteller221
Summary: Duh-duh-duh-duh! The epic story has returned! As always, Ian/Amy
1. Chapter 1

**Prince of Serpents**

"Where is it, where is it, where is it?" screamed Amy Cahill as she searched around frantically. She and her younger brother Dan were at the Goa airport and were searching for, you guessed it, another Clue. It has been ten years since the Cahill siblings have started the Clue hunt, and both have grown immensely over the years. Amy has certainly developed...she was no longer the shy, stuttering girl ten years ago, but now she is a fully developed woman with very long copper hair that reached her lower back, her jade eyes have been converted to a lighter shade of green, and she no longer has a stuttering problem. She still hates crowds, but she has learned to cope with them for a small amount of time. Dan, on the other hand, still acts like an eleven year old, even though he is now twenty one. His dirty blonde hair has darkened to a more brown-ish color, and his jade eyes became a darker green with each passing year. He is now officially taller than his sister, and is fully developed as well. "Where in the hell is it?" screamed Amy as she still searched frantically. Dan started to shush her as other passengers started to look at them in alarm at the beautiful woman's distress.

"Don't worry Amy," Dan soothed his sister, "I'm sure it's around here somewhere." If you wanted to know what Amy was looking for, then take note that Amy's jade necklace (which was once her grandmother Grace's) is not around her neck, like it usually would be. Amy looked at her brother, now with tears in her eyes, and communicated,

_Well, where could it be? I swear, if I left it in that jungle..._ Dan shook his head and communicated back,

_No, that's impossible. You had it around your neck at that time, I'm sure of it._ Amy sighed. Of course her brother was right. Dan had an amazing photographic memory, and it has always been useful ever since they had joined in searching for the Clues.

"Do you remember packing it at all or leaving it at the hotel?" Dan whispered. Amy shook her head no as tears started to fall from her eyes. Dan gave her a side-hug, quickly retracted, and whispered to her, "Hey, that necklace never seems to stay away from you for long. It'll turn up soon enough." Amy sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes carefully, without smearing her make-up. Dan smiled and asked, "You know what?"

Amy smiled too and asked her brother, "What?" Dan began chuckling a little before stating,

"I could really make a good 'Nellie' wouldn't I?" Both laughed a little then fell back into silence and sorrow. Nellie Gomez, their ex-au pair, was killed in a cave's collapsing back in Lithuania, along with Ian, Natalie, and Isabel Kabra, Alistair Oh, and Jonah Wizard and his father Broderick. The three branches: Lucian, Ekaterina, and Janus, mourned their losses, and because they were there, Amy and Dan had come to all funerals, but always had to leave early because all three branches would probably try to kill them afterwards. Soon afterwards Saladin, their Egyptian Mau, got terribly sick, and soon died. So now it was just the two of them, all alone. Eventually, the plane was ready for take-off, Amy and Dan boarded, and after a couple of hours of flight, Amy and Dan touched down from Goa to Rome.

They bought a room in a nearby hotel, got ready for bed, and slept. However, Amy did not expect to be woken up in the middle of the night...by an unwelcome hiss right beside her head.

**A/N:**

**Okay, I know, three stories at once, it's crazy! But I happened to look up the Lithuanian folk tale on Wikipedia (awesome site for random stuff) and thought, _How awesome would it be to take this...this legend...and turn it into a 39 clues format?_ I don't know, you tell me, but this seems like a good idea. What do you think? Review and let me know! Until then!**

**~storyteller221**


	2. Chapter 2

**Prince of Serpents**

_They bought a room in a nearby hotel, got ready for bed, and slept. However, Amy did not expect to be woken up in the middle of the night...by an unwelcome hiss right beside her head._

Amy slowly woke up when she heard the hissing noise, then immediately jumped back. Why? Because she just now noticed that there was a King Cobra sitting next to her on the bed. She started to scream, when the cobra slithered up her quickly and covered her mouth with his tail. He whispered into her ear,

"Pleassssse relax. I am not here to harm you." Amy gulped as he continued, "I've recently heard that you've been dessssssperately looking for sssssssomething, am I correct?" She slowly removed his tail from her mouth, all the while praying not to be bitten, and whispered back,

"Wait, how can you talk?" the snake shook his head and urgently hissed,

"There isssss no time for that. Have you been looking for ssssssomething?" Amy slowly nodded 'yes'. The snake nodded as well as he slithered back down to the bed. Amy shivered at the feel of his slimy scales. He then went back down the bed to the floor. Amy sighed as she thought,

_Maybe that was just my imagination. Snakes can't talk. I hope he doesn't come back_. Unfortunately though, he does. And with him, was a familiar necklace. He held it up, only to confirm her suspicions that it was indeed her jade necklace. "Perhapssssss you have been looking for thissssss?" Amy, too happy to respond, nodded yes and reached for her possession, but the snake retracted it before she could touch it.

"Please, can you give it back? I've been so worried about it," Amy pleadingly whispered to the cobra. The cobra put his tail to his mouth as if thinking, then smiled pleasantly and hissed,

"Of courssssse I'll give it back to you," Amy sighed in relief before the snake finished, "but I have to get ssssssomething in return. After all, I worked very hard to get thisssss back for you." Amy was a little surprised at the snake's request. What could he possibly want? And did he really work hard to get the necklace back? Amy asked the snake,

"Well, what do you want?" The King Cobra again smiled maliciously as he hissed,

"To pledge yoursssself to me." Amy's eyes widened in disbelief. The snake wants to...to marry her? Amy slowly shook her head.

"You can't be serious," she whispered disbelievingly.

"I am," said the snake menacingly. She shook her head again.

"Isn't there anything else?" This time the snake shook his head and hissed,

"No pledge, no necklace." Amy sighed. She thought long and hard about this.

_I can't just marry a snake!_ Her mind screamed, _that's just so wrong! And besides, what would I do with a husband that's a snake?The Clue hunt is worth more, and that's saying something!_

_But he has the necklace! _Her mind tried to reason, _Grace would want us to take the risk to get something back in her memory!_

_But all this for a simple necklace?_

_It was Grace's necklace for hell's sake!_

_Don't we have other memories?_

_That's the only physical one we have! _

Eventually, Amy whispered to the cobra,

"Deal." The King Cobra smiled maliciously once more as he gently handed the necklace back to Amy, and then retreated. Amy excitedly put the necklace back around her neck, where it belonged. As she gazed into the familiar stone that was hanging from the necklace itself, a sudden thought occurred to her.

_Wait a second! Where have I heard that voice before?_

**A/N:**

**Second chapter up! Woohoo! This makes me happy! Review! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Prince of Serpents**

"_Deal." The King Cobra smiled maliciously once more as he gently handed the necklace back to Amy, and then retreated. Amy excitedly put the necklace back around her neck, where it belonged. As she gazed into the familiar stone that was hanging from the necklace itself, a sudden thought occurred to her._

Wait a second! Where have I heard that voice before?

The next day, Amy and Dan both awoke and began looking for their next Clue. As Dan got out of the shower, and Amy got in, there was a knock on the door. Dan, very tired, opened to door to see, well, nobody. So, Dan just shrugged and closed the door. Eventually, they reached a very busy marketplace in Rome where many cows, pigs, etc. were being sold, not to mention other priceless items. Merchants of all kinds tried to show jewelry, perfume, even chickens to Amy, while they tried to show different types of collar buttons and all that guy stuff to Dan. But, Amy and Dan stopped when they saw a very certain goose. He, amazingly, looked just like their Egyptian Mau, Saladin. The merchant, noticing the siblings' immediate attraction to the goose, claimed,

"30 K in English money." After much non-verbal communication and persuasion, Amy and Dan got their new pet who they named, you guessed it, Saladin. With their new pet, Amy and Dan are on track of their next Clue.

_**Later...**_

After nothing but chaos, running, and eventually finding nothing in the end, the exhausted team of Amy and Dan stopped by their hotel once more. Saladin jumped onto Dan's bed and made itself a little nest there, just like what his dead cat counterpart would have done. Amy, after winning in a game of rock-paper-scissors, got to take a shower first, leaving Dan and Saladin alone.

About five minutes later, there was a knock on the door again. Dan got up, tiredly opened the door, and found nothing. But this time he heard hissing so he happened to look down...

And saw about one thousand snakes sitting there in the hall. In surprise and alarm, Dan jumps back about a hundred feet, while their leader steps forward and claims,

"Do not be alarmed, human. We do not mean to harm you. We ssssimply need to collect something for our masssster, the Prince of Ssssserpentssssss." Dan, astonished, looked down as Saladin jumped up onto Dan's shoulders. It took a while before the handsome Cahill boy snapped out of his amazement and asked,

"Okay, first of all, how the heck can you guys talk? Secondly, who is this Prince of Serpents? Finally, I'm pretty sure we don't have anything that any Cobra could want. No offense on any of those." The snake leader bowed his head as he explained,

"We are but the eleventh generation of the ssssnakessss who were chossssen to be given thissss talent of ssssspeech. You have not offended any of ussss, asss it isss normal for humansss to be curioussss. However, I am sssssorry to ssssay that I nor any of my companionssss here can give any word of our massssster. Finally, you do have ssssomething. We requesssst that you hand over the beautiful Amy Cahill to ussss, for sssshe hasss been chossssen asss our massssster's bride." Dan gaped and, following Dan's movements, so did Saladin. It took a while before Dan growled,

"I will not allow for Amy to be anybody's bride, especially that of your so-called master." The leader tried to sooth the angry brother by stating,

"Pleassse, you don't undersssstand. We..." But he was cut off.

"No, I will not hand my sister over to a bunch of snakes. Regardless of anything, you will not have her."

"Pleasssse, I undersssstand your protection over your ssssssibling, but we musssst..."

"No way, no how!" Just as he was about to shout at the snakes some more, he was cut off by Saladin. He looked into the goose's eyes, as they seemed to say,

_Let them take me. She is worth much more than I am._ With this new idea, Dan menacingly ordered them to wait while he closed the door. After a while, Saladin was wrapped up in a very long sack that felt about as much as Amy would weigh. After careful examination, and careful prayers, Dan opened the door and handed over "Amy" a.k.a. their new pet to the serpents. The leader bowed as he thanked them, and all one thousand of them slithered away with their new prize in tow. Suddenly, a cuckoo began crowing, as if in warning, but the serpents didn't listen. They were gone within a few minutes. Dan sighed in loss of their new friend as the real Amy walked out of the bathroom, immediately asking her brother,

"Where's Saladin?" Dan sighed and explained everything, for they swore a long time ago to stop keeping secrets from one another. When he was done, Amy sighed in aggravation as she sat down on the same spot where their lost pet goose sat. "So it wasn't a dream," she mumbled, "it was all real." Dan asked,

"What do you mean?" And so Amy told Dan the recent events of last night, of the King Cobra, and the necklace, and the pledge. When she was done with her story, Dan then shook his head side to side slowly and mumbled, disappointed,

"So you agreed to marry a snake." Amy immediately argued the fact that the cobra had Grace's necklace.

"You know how much I love this necklace Dan, I couldn't let it stay away from me too long."

"But now you just played into a gigantic trap! Probably our competitors trying to separate us so that they could take advantage of us."

"What competitors?" Amy asked, challengingly. Dan was about to say something when he retracted, remembering the cave-in in Lithuania. Amy too remembered and, despite who it was that died in the cave-in. **(A/N: For those of you who don't know, this is what they're talking about:**

**Suddenly, the whole cave started to move. **

"**What's happening?" cried a 16 year old Amy, looking to her brother. Dan shook his head, obviously not knowing what was going on either. **

"**It's the cave itself," reasoned Alistair, "that fragment was probably the only thing keeping this whole cave up and running. Without it the cave has no support. We have to get out of here...now!" **

"**Welcome back Alistair," claimed Jonah Wizard as his father shook his Blackberry violently. **

"**There's no service in here!" Broderick ** **complained loudly. **

"**How can you be worried about service in this situation?" Natalie shrieked at the rapper's father. Ian started walking to Amy to help her, while Isabel, who was holding the fragment, looked around in confusion before ordering,**

"**Ian. Natalie. Come. Let's go." The Kabras looked at each other, as if not wanting to go, but eventually they joined their mother. Isabel turned to the others and said sweetly, "Thank you for all of your help. Truly. Unfortunately, we'll be too busy ruling the world to come to your funerals." Amy gasped in shock as Nellie cried,**

"**You witch!" Dan joined his au pair in shouting,**

"**You won't get away with this, Isabel Kabra!" However, Mama Kabra smirked as Ian and Natalie looked at each other reluctantly again. **

"**I already have." snarled Isabel. But apparently, fate doesn't agree, because five seconds later, a giant boulder crashes down on the evil Kabra mother, crushing her and the fragment. Ian and Natalie, shocked, began running to the others as the cave started erupting even more now that the fragment was completely destroyed. **

"**Hurry! Let's get out of here!" shouted Ian as he started pushing Amy away. Dan, Natalie, Alistair, and Jonah started joining them. Broderick, however, was too frustrated with his cell ****phone to be paying attention to what was happening. Jonah looked back at his dad and shouted,**

"**Dad! Come on! We gotta go!" The Wizard father, however, only looked up at his son before looking back down and shouted back,**

"**In a minute! I think I've almost got a signal!" But, he was soon killed by another boulder. **

"**Dad!" cried the teen rapper as he ran to help his father. Dan looked back and shouted,**

"**Jonah! Come on!" Jonah looked back at the six, smiled his trademark smile, and shouted,**

"**Make sure and tell Mom that I love her, okay?" Soon, he started running again, only to be crushed by yet another boulder. Soon after that, Alistair was crushed because he wasn't running fast enough, Natalie was crushed when she saved Dan, and Nellie was crushed when she saved Ian and Amy, leaving only the Cahills and Ian Kabra. Finally, Dan reached the exit. Just as he was about to leave, Ian looked back to see that Amy was about to become an Amy pancake. Out of love, he shouted,**

"**Amy, look out!" before he jumped over to her and pushed her out of the way. So instead, Ian became the last victim instead of Amy.**

**When it was all over, Amy and Dan were the only ones left.)**

Immediately after the memory was gone, Amy and Dan snapped back into reality. Without another word, Dan went into the bathroom to get ready while Amy took a used guidebook about Rome out of her backpack and began reading on her bed. In about fifteen minutes, Dan was out of the bathroom and the two went to bed, dreaming about that terrible day.

_**Meanwhile...**_

The frustrated prince pounded his fist on the armrest of his throne as the thousand serpents shivered in fear.

"I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. Were you all really that _stupid_ as to not check what was in the bag before you left?" The leader gulped as he tried to reason with his master,

"Masssster, pleassssse, have mercy. We were grateful that the Cahill boy even gave usssss ssssomething." He gestured towards the terrified goose. The prince glared at the disgusting thing as he gave the head chef the command. Eyes gleaming, the evil cook dragged the innocent and frightened goose away to the kitchen. Then, the angry prince turned to the serpents and commanded,

"Go back to them. And this time, make sure you get the right target." The leader bowed to the

prince, grateful that he had spared them this time. Then, the leader gave the order and the snakes departed. The prince sat down on his throne, took a deep breath, and went into deep thinking.

It had taken him eight years, but he finally tracked her down. After observing them from a long distance in Goa, he saw them creep into a dense jungle. Seizing this oppurtunity, he morphed into a garden snake, crept in, and crept out with Amy's jade necklace. After he followed them to Rome, he morphed into his King Cobra form just to give Amy some sort of clue as to who he was, but it seemed that Amy didn't get the clue. Oh well. She'll get it after she was brought to him for marriage, just as she promised.

Amy. Amy Cahill. The name that once-upon-a-time he snarled and bit at, he now embraced in loving memory. He didn't intend to fall in love with her, but sometimes, miracles happen. This just happened to be one of them. Why calling it a miracle? Well, it was a miracle that he even fell in love with something or someone other than power and money. He still loved them, but they were second best compared to _her_. He still remembered that fateful day when it happened.

The head chef came in and announced that dinner was ready. The prince smiled as he eagerly walked to his supper, named _Poule le diner_.

**A/N:**

**Okay, if you don't know French (and I don't) then just look up french for goose and french for dinner. You'll get it soon. Also, I think you all know officially who this is, but just stay tuned, because I am not going to introduce him...yet. Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Prince of Serpents**

_Immediately after the memory was gone, Amy and Dan snapped back into reality. Without another word, Dan went into the bathroom to get ready while Amy took a used guidebook about Rome out of her backpack and began reading on her bed. In about fifteen minutes, Dan was out of the bathroom and the two went to bed, dreaming about that terrible day._

_**Meanwhile...**_

_The head chef came in and announced that dinner was ready. The prince smiled as he eagerly walked to his supper, named Poule le diner._

"Hurry up, Dan!" cried Amy as she and her brother ran for the exit. They were running from the Starlings as the furious Sinead shouted curses and Ted and Ned were close behind them. Let's go up to speed here. Amy and Dan couldn't find anything in Rome, so they followed the Starlings (for some reason they were allowed back into the contest) to find something. They did, and soon after Dan snuck up behind Sinead, poked her on the shoulder, and took the Starlings' lead, then both Cahills started running before Sinead could say "cell-phone." After a few moments, the triplets realized what was happening and started running after them.

"I can't! Do you know how heavy this thing is?" the impatient Dan shouted back. The lead? It's a jar painted in Roman pictures and numbers. According to Dan, it is also very heavy. Within a few moments, both Ted and Ned caught Dan while Amy went to hide. Dan was brought back to Sinead as she cried,

"And they said you were dead! Why you no-good ^&(*(&^$#%*^(*^(*..." However, she stopped when she noticed how...how hot the Cahill orphan seemed. Sinead smiled evilly as she suddenly threw herself at him, trying to either A) steal the jar or B) get Dan to like her back. Either way, Amy didn't like it one bit. She ran from behind, grabbed Dan and the jar, and pushed him and the artifact into a nearby taxi.

"Go! Hurry! Now!" she shouted as she threw $200 dollars onto the driver's seat. The driver saw the money and zoomed off, leaving the Starlings in the dust. After giving directions to the taxi driver, Amy and Dan arrived at their hotel about ten minutes later.

Amy, exhausted yet again, set the jar down onto her bed, and lay down next to it. Dan, shaking his head slowly, lay down on his own bed, and started taking a giant nap. Amy smiled at her brother, and began thinking about Sinead's actions.

_What does she think she's doing?_ She thought, _Throwing herself at Dan like that. _She shook her head as she thought, _I'm going to need to be more careful as far as the Starlings go. _Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a scratching from inside the jar. She started examing it, and found air holes in the jar, perfectly cut. _Strange_, she thought as she opened the lid, _what could be in here..._

Dan woke up from his nap painfully when he heard a high-pitched squeal. The Cahill boy sat up so straight you'd think he was Frankenstein.

"What? What's going on? Are we being attacked by Kabra zombies?" he shouted before he laid his eyes on his sister...and what was in her lap. It was a baby lamb.

It looked up at Dan with eyes that could have paralyzed even the toughest man on Earth. It snuggled into Amy's lap as if she was its mother. Amy, on the other hand, was cuddling with the thing as if the lamb was her own child. She was giggling softly at the sight of the baby animal, and Dan smiled a little. Amy looked up at Dan in pleading.

"Dan, this lamb has to have been in that jar for a reason. We should keep it." The lamb looked up at Dan pleadingly as well, as if agreeing to what Amy is saying. All he could do was let his sister keep it. Because it was his idea for naming their lost goose, Amy was given the oppurtunity to name the new addition to their team. She named her (they checked and it is a girl) Nellie, for Nellie was that comforting and tender.

_**Later...**_

Amy, for some reason, kept on getting the shower first. While she was cleansing herself, Dan and Nellie started getting to know each other. As the lamb was learning how to walk, Dan could only grin and say,

"You are something else, you notice that?" With that, he continued examining the jar from which Nellie came from **(A/N: oh geez I just not realized how awkward that sounds...well just ignore it okay?) **and noticed a particular word on the jar. It stated: _Veno Mobrac_. It didn't look like part of the original design...in fact, it was written in some beautiful cursive. Dan immediately wrote down the two words, then began working on them, seeming as they looked like anagrams. There was a knock on the door as soon as he started however. Sighing frustratedly and muttering to himself about not getting any time to himself, he opened the door. This time, instead of closing the door because he found no one, or looking down, he was knocked down by a huge force by his feet. He looked around him to find the same one thousand snakes crawling past him and heading for the bathroom door, where Amy was.

"No!" cried Dan as he tried to get up, but then he stopped when he saw that the snakes were stopped by Nellie.

"Baa!" she bleated at the snakes. The serpents glanced at one another, confused, before their leader hissed something and the snakes began crawling all over the little lamb. This happened just as Amy stepped out of the bathroom. She saw Nellie being taken away and immediately cried,

"No!" She started running to help her little pet, but was held back by Dan.

_**Later...**_

The prince sighed aggravatedly as the leader explained why they had failed again.

"The lamb would not move out of the way. We could hear the girl sssscream in pain. Obvioussssssly they have formed a bond of sssssome ssssort." Upon hearing this, the serpents' master looked up. So the little lamb and his future bride had a certain bond, did they? The head chef was waiting nearby, while glaring at the baby animal hungrily. The baby animal was shaking very violently, she was completely terrified. The evil cook stepped up.

"Sire, may I take the lamb to dinner?" he asked very pleasantly. Surprisingly, the prince shook his head.

"No. I will take her to a very comfortable place. If this lamb is that important to Amy, then she is that important to me," the prince stated. Mumbling and grumbling, the head chef went back into his kitchen. The leader serpent slithered forward.

"Ssssire, pleassssse, give ussss one more chance. We won't messsss up thisssss time, we promisssse." His master sighed once more as he picked up the lamb.

"Fine. One more chance. But if you mess up this last time, then I won't depend on you for future missions ever again. Do you hear me, Lavika?" Lavika, the leader, bowed his head, then hissed at his team of snakes and they disbanded. The lamb looked up at the prince timidly. He looked down and smiled. The baby animal reminded him so much of Amy. He carried her all the way to a beautiful pen. The baby bleated in happiness and pranced around before she laid down to rest. The prince smiled peacefully as he left the lamb to go eat his dinner.

**A/N:**

**Okay, I know Sinead is a little OOC, but just go with me here, okay? Other than that, can I get a little support here? I'm sorry if this is a little rushed too, but...but...agh I'm so rushed! Please review! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Prince of Serpents**

_She saw Nellie being taken away and immediately cried,_

"_No!" She started running to help her little pet, but was held back by Dan._

_**Later...**_

_The prince smiled peacefully as he left the lamb to go eat his dinner._

Amy went into a state of depression the next day. Dan had done everything he could to make her feel better, but it was as if Nellie the lamb had that part of Amy's soul that was happy. He told her about the words he found on the jar, and Amy stated that it was probably an anagram.

"Either that or the Starlings wrote on this jar to get us off track." He shrugged; Amy was very practical, but that was just because she lost her favorite pet (other than both Saladins). He tried multiple ways to figure out the anagram, but for some reason, he just couldn't find it.

Later on that day, Amy left to go take a breather. She was walking to the nearest library (of course!) when she heard someone call her name.

"Amy!" She turned to see Hamilton Holt, or "Hammer" for short. Amy smiled at the handsome man who was running to her.

"Hey, Hammer. What's up?" Hamilton smiled at Amy's calling him his nickname and asked in a low voice,

"I actually have a proposition for you. Do you wanna talk here or do you wanna talk somewhere else?" Amy shrugged, she personally didn't care. Hamilton shrugged too; as though he agreed with the Cahill girl. Eventually, he told her right on the spot,

"My dad wants another alliance." Amy raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I thought your dad didn't like having an alliance with anybody," she pointed out. Nearby, a dark figure watched them. It wasn't the man in black, but it was someone a lot more lean...and a lot more handsome. Hamilton sighed as he replied,

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Amy sighed, as she knew that phrase very well. She thought for a while before saying,

"I'll let Dan know of our new alliance." Hamilton smiled in happiness, while the dark figure frowned in jealousy and anger at the Neanderthal for daring mess with her. Hamilton turned to leave, but then, unexpectedly, he turned back to Amy and kissed her right on the mouth. Amy was shocked, and the dark figure got so mad that he summoned a thousand King came, right away.

"Wha-what's going on?" the muscular man cried when he saw the thousands of serpents circling him. Tourists and other people cleared the way, and Amy was held back by a few more snakes. The Hammer fought off the snakes as best he could; but by the time one of the snakes have bitten him the tenth time, he fell to the ground...dead. Next, the snakes went for Amy.

Sensing immediate danger, Amy ran to the marketplace, right behind a very subtle cow. The snakes looked around, until finally she heard one hiss,

"You can't hide from usssss, Amy Cahill. We know all about your pledge to our masssster, the Prince of Ssssserpentsssss. We do not mean to harm you, we just want to take you back..." At this, the snakes attacked the cow from which Amy was hiding behind...only to find her gone.

Dan was really relieved when Amy got back to the hotel safely. He saw the snakes attacking Hamilton and then attacking the cow on the news.

"I thought for sure you were dead!" cried Dan as both smiled at each other in relief.

_**Later...**_

The head chef cackled evilly as he dragged the dead cow to the kitchen. The prince, on the other hand, glared at Lavika.

"Masssster, pleassssse, try to underssssstand. We almosssssst had her. Honesssst." Lavika's leader only sighed and ran his hand through his hair. A few minutes passed before the prince said,

"Lavika. You've been one of my most trusted companions. But the way you've been failing at getting a simple girl for me has really let me down." _You idiot! She is not simple!_ "Okay, maybe she's not simple, but still." He stood from his throne and then morphed into a giant Basilisk. "It looksssss like if you want thingsssss done right, you have to do them yourssssself." With that, he left the palace to collect his bride himself.

**A/N:**

**Okay, I'm sorry that this chapter is short, I promise the next chapter will be longer! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Prince of Serpents**

"_I thought for sure you were dead!" cried Dan as both smiled at each other in relief._

_**Later...**_

_He stood from his throne and then morphed into a giant Basilisk. "It looksssss like if you want thingsssss done right, you have to do them yourssssself." With that, he left the palace to collect his bride himself._

Later that night, Amy and Dan were just about to go to sleep. Amy was going to turn off the lamp that was beside her bed when she noticed how frustrated Dan looked.

"What's up, bro?" she asked him, a little concerned. Dan slammed down the notebook that he was holding in frustration.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe it. A simple anagram and I can't figure it out!" Amy almost jumped from off the bed in alarm from her brother's outburst.

"Wow, Dan, geez, calm down. Hey, you're bound to figure it out. It's just an anagram." Dan looked at his sister in doubt.

"I know. But, this is the first anagram that I can't figure out. What if I'm losing it?" Amy looked at him in a confused manner.

"Dan, the only thing that you are allowed to lose is...on second thought, you're not allowed to lose anything as long as you're my brother. I doubt you're losing your senses when it comes to anagrams." Dan sighed and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Amy smiled and hugged her brother. She could feel Dan wince just a tiny bit, but she didn't mind. Sometimes, in life, you just need a good hug. Dan knew this too, he just pretends he doesn't. Amy let go and she was about to shut off her lamp when there was a knock on the door. The Cahills looked at each other, obviously frightened by the past experiences. There was a knock on the door again. A few minutes later there was another knock. Finally, Dan could stand it no longer. He took out his favorite pistol and walked to the door as he claimed, "If it's those snakes again, I'm gonna..." But he stopped abruptly and closed the door.

"Dan? Who is it?" Amy stood up and went to her brother and saw that his face was as white as a sheet of paper. "Dan? Dan? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Her brother didn't respond one bit. And when she opened the door to see who it is, she couldn't say she blamed him. Standing at the door was **(A/N: you guessed it folks!)** Ian Kabra. He had grown very handsome over the years, still with cinnamon-complex skin and jet black hair. He wore a black suit which matched his eyes. "I-I-Ian..." The handsome man smiled warmly at her, which shut her up. She began fiddling with her jade necklace like she used to. Her stuttering problem came back.

"Hello, dear cousins. It is good to see you too," he stated. He turned to Amy and claimed, "It is especially good to see you Amy." Amy looked down from his gaze, blushing like mad. "May I come in? I believe I have some explaining to do." Amy nodded a little and led him inside while Dan still just stood there. Amy looked back at him and said,

"Dan, seriously, are you okay?" Ian looked back too, then smiled in remembrance at Amy and claimed,

"Unfortunately, your brother's paralyzing was my doing. As I said earlier, I do have some explaining to do."

"Paralyzing?" Amy asked in disbelief as Ian came face-to-face with Dan. His eyes changed color for a moment and Dan came back from his trance.

"How the heck are you alive, Ian _**Cobra**_? Come back from the grave to hurt my sister again?" Dan shouted as he was being held back by his sensible sister. To both Cahills' surprise, Ian started chuckling.

"Of course you are still protective of your sister, Daniel." Dan growled at being called by his full name. "But actually I did not come back from the grave. I was never dead. Please, let's sit down so I can explain everything." When they did, Ian began his story.

"It started when I saved Amy's life from the boulder back in Lithuania. I thought I was dead of course, but it turns out that I was still alive..." And so, Ian explained everything...how he learned of an old Lucian legend that whoever was the son of the leader of the Lucian branch possessed a great power...the power to control snakes. Be their master, order them around, almost like a prince would do with his servants. In fact, that was what he was called. The Prince of Serpents.

"Wait a second. Those snakes that were sent to us mentioned something of their master the Prince of Serpents. YOU sent them after Amy?" Dan tried to tackle Ian again, but Amy sat him back down. Chuckling yet again, Ian nodded, all the while looking over at Amy very lovingly, yet hungrily.

"Yes. That was me. Of course all three times they had failed miserably. So I figured I might as well have a little visit with you two and collect what is mine." An awkward silence filled the room. Ian did not take his eyes off of Amy. Amy kept glancing at him, but she still kept looking down.

"Collect what is yours," mouthed the angry Dan, "and, what exactly would that be?" Ian stood up very menacingly and towered over the Cahill boy as he answered,

"Your sister, Daniel." Amy's eyes opened wide while Dan stood up menacingly as well.

"I'd rather kiss your mom's butt before I'd let you have Amy." Then, unexpectedly, he tackled Ian, kicking, punching, and clawing him.

"D-D-Dan, stop it!" cried Amy, but there was nothing she could do. Surprisingly, however, Ian stood back up, while choking Dan with his left hand. Ian's eyes were completely changed...from his beautiful brown eyes to reptilian greenish yellow. His pupils were black slits that could kill you with one look.

"A Kabra never loses, Daniel. And I will certainly never lose my love, especially when I haven't seen her in eight years," growled the angry prince as he tossed the Cahill to the side like he was a rag doll. Then, his physical body began to change. Eventually, he was no longer a handsome human, but a giant serpent. The great beast that was once Ian slithered around Amy. Amy shivered as she felt his scales against her skin. "There isss no need to be afraid, love," Ian hissed into her ear quietly. "I would never harm you."

"Aagh!" cried someone from behind. Both turned to see Dan run to them. Ian just shrugged and flicked him against a wall with the end of his tail. Then, he turned back to Amy, who was shivering in fear. This did not go unnoticed.

"Love, pleassssse, you've missssunderssstood my intentionssss. All I want isss to be with you. Isss that really jusssst a crime?" Amy stopped shivering when she realized that Ian was telling the truth.

"Don't...listen...to him...Amy," moaned Dan who was wearily getting up from being flicked across the room. Amy looked over at her brother and tried to help him, but Ian held her tight.

"Amy, pleassssse. I love you." At this, Amy looked into the serpent's eyes and realized how loving they seemed. It's almost like you try a hard candy for the first time and realizing it wasn't so bad. She didn't even notice her smiling at him, and him smiling at her. Nor did she notice Dan's cries in the background. It was as if time stood still. However, she didn't expect for Ian to breathe into her face. She winced, ready for terrible breath, but it was actually very soothing.

"Oh crap. A...sleeping...perfume..." she said as she lulled to sleep. The last thing she remembered was starting to get carried off by Ian, who had changed back into his normal human self, and Ian whispered into her ear,

"Good night, my love."

**A/N:**

**Like I said, next chapter? Much longer! Or maybe it isn't...anyway, please REVIEW! **

**~storyteller221 :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Prince of Serpents**

"Amy, no!" cried Dan. He tried to stop Ian from kidnapping his sister, but to no avail. The prince, who was gazing lovingly at Amy's sleeping form, was now glaring angrily at the Cahill. Therefore, what did he do? He sent a thousand King Cobras to keep him busy. They did...he kept shooting them with a silver pistol, and they kept shooting at him. That was when Ian, who was still holding Amy bridal style, ran off. A little while later, the cobras also retreated.

Growling agitatedly, he took the TV remote and slammed it down hard. Great. Not only has he lost his mother, father, and Grace, he's also lost his only sister. He sat down on his bed and, believe it or not, started crying. Gone. They're all gone now. He picked up the notebook where his sketches of what _Veno Mobrac _might mean. These are the words that he has so far:

_Brac Venoom_

_Obeva conem_

There were others, but at the very bottom, through his tears, he finally figured it out. At the bottom, he wrote, blinded by tears:

_Cobra Venom_

_**Later...**_

Amy, slowly but surely, woke up in a most unusual place. She sat up immediately, only to notice that she was in a gigantic circular bed, with green and yellow silk for covers. She got up and looked around. The bedroom that she was in looked more like a gigantic circular chamber, just like the bed. Amy looked at herself in a mirror and also noticed that she wasn't wearing the clothes she was originally wearing yesterday. Instead, she was wearing a beautiful and long silken nightgown, which was golden with embroidered emerald flower design. On her tiny and delicate feet, she wore golden slippers. Amy gasped in surprise and happiness. She looked like a princess. Suddenly, she heard the door open and, without thinking twice, went to hide out on the sill of her giant circular window. She looked to see Ian step in, wearing a different outfit then last time (of course!). He wore a regular outfit that a prince would wear, only it was gold and emerald patterned, almost like a snake's **(A/N: im sorry, im just terrible with fancy guy outfits!)**. Also, he was wearing a simple golden band with a garnet on it. He stopped walking and stiffened when he found the bed empty. A few minutes passed, all the while Amy was thinking of how she could escape. She looked around but only to find the new environment unfamiliar.

_Wow_, thought Amy, _I don't think I've ever been here before. Where am I?_ Unknowingly, she asked that last question out loud. It wasn't that loud, but it was enough for someone to hear it.

"There you are," growled someone from next to her. Amy glanced over to see Ian looking over at her from the window rather amusingly. He reached over to get her back inside but she retracted. Which was a stupid move since she was above, oh about, 10 feet in the air above blue, blue water. Immediately, she started to fall, but she was caught by Ian in his giant snake form. He caught her by the tail and rolled her back up to safety. Satisfied that she was once more in his grasp, Ian smiled and brought her back inside the bedroom. He laid her down onto the silk bed, closed the window and locked it so that she wouldn't try to escape again that way. He turned to Amy then and changed his smile to a frown when he saw how unhappy that Amy was. "What's wrong, love?" Amy glared at him and literally screamed,

"Don't tell me you don't know 'love'! You took me away from my only family, just for your own amusement, and on top of that, after eight years, I thought you were dead! And you never even apologized for breaking my heart before that little act! Other than that, I'm completely fine. Or at least I was until you showed up again in my life!" Enough said, she stomped on his foot and turned away from him, crying her eyes out. Crying out in pain, Ian held up his foot and rubbed it to calm the pain a little, all the while saying,

"Amy, please, I understand your frustration at me, and I regret even losing your trust in the first place!" He shook out his foot as he continued, "And I didn't take you from your only family just for my own amusement. I took you out of love." Amy snorted and replied haughtily,

"Yeah, right! The only things _you_ could ever love are power and money!" Ian was completely taken aback by what she said. Amy continued crying, Ian just stood there in shock. Then, slowly but surely, he walked over to her and hugged her. The poor Cahill girl was crying so much she didn't even notice Ian's holding her. He gently kissed her on the head and whispered soothing words into her ear. This went on for about a few more minutes before Amy realized what was happening. She looked up, saw Ian's face, then looked down, noticed his arms around her, and quickly escaped from his grasp. Ian looked hurt the moment she did, and for some reason, she felt a twinge of regret and pain for him.

_Impossible!_ Her mind contradicted, _he took you away from your only brother! He doesn't love you!_

"...with me?" asked Ian. She snapped back into reality and asked,

"What now?" Ian smiled and asked his question again,

"Would you like to take a little stroll around the palace with me? I could show you around, that is, if you want to." After some thinking, finally, Amy nodded. He left the bedroom so that she could change out of her nightgown. When she came out, she was no longer wearing her gold and emerald-encrusted nightgown, but a beautiful, long, silver empire dress. She also wore her jade necklace.

"You look beautiful," Ian whispered to her. Amy smiled in awkwardness, as this was still new to her. So, Ian merely gestured for her to follow him, and she did. Eventually, they were walking side by side around the palace.

**A/N:**

**The latest update for P.O.S.: done! **

**~storyteller221 :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Prince of Serpents**

"_You look beautiful," Ian whispered to her. Amy smiled in awkwardness, as this was still new to her. So, Ian merely gestured for her to follow him, and she did. Eventually, they were walking side by side around the palace._

It turns out the palace is underwater. It was a beautiful palace at that, all tinted with bronze and silver. Ian literally showed her everywhere...from the grand hall where the parties are held, to the courtyard where most of the hustle and bustle of the palace was performed. Amy was glad to see that there were human servants alongside the snake servants. Each human was accompanied by a snake familiar so that both species wouldn't get so lonely.

"Do you have a snake familiar?" Amy asked him when he explained. However, Ian shook his head and reminded Amy,

"I'm the only one in the palace who can morph into a snake. I don't exactly need a snake familiar."

_Makes sense_, she thought as she followed the handsome prince around the palace. After about an hour of walking, Amy was very tired.

Ian sensed the girl's tiredness and chuckled silently to himself.

"I hate to ask so bluntly Ian, but are we done yet?" Amy asked almost impatiently. The heels that she was wearing were killing her. She saw Ian laugh a little before saying,

"Of course, love." Before she could tell him not to call her that, he continued, "But, I need to show you two more things." Amy sighed in impatience and continued to follow Ian. The first...was a beautiful library. Of course, because of her being a bibliophile, she was ecstatic to see such a beautiful sight. It was a glowing and warm room. Scratch that, it was a glowing and warm _hall_. It was circular, like her bedroom, only it was copper and bronze in color and frame. Books were filled all the way to the top of the room. Ian walked up behind the very happy girl and whispered into her ear, "Do you like it?" Amy nodded, completely speechless. She could be in here forever if she wanted to, that is until Ian dragged her away.

"Oh come on Ian! Please? Just for a few hours?" she pleaded as she pulled and tugged against Ian's grip. Ian was laughing as he continued to shake his head. Amy was laughing too. At one point he accidentally let go and Amy started running back for the library...but Ian caught her, still in his human form. Both were laughing their heads off now, until they realized their position. Ian was holding Amy from behind her and was holding her around her waist. Both blushed as Amy murmured sorry to him and left his very comfortable grasp. Ian stood there for a moment, a bit lost by the recent events, then snapped out of it and he continued to lead Amy to the second thing that was to be shown. Amy didn't try to go back to the library, nor did the two talk. Finally, they made it. Ian opened the door to a room and gestured for her to go in. She walked in and was surprised to see...

her pet Nellie the lamb. "Nellie!" Amy cried as she went to go hug her pet. The lamb heard Amy's cry, bleated happily, and ran to her. The two were reunited.

**A/N:**

**In case you didn't know, bibliophile means lover of books. So, it fits Amy perfectly. Also, if you want to look up this legend, type in the search box Egle the Queen of Serpents. There will be a happier ending I assure you! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Prince of Serpents**

The next morning, Ian found Amy and Nellie in the baby lamb's pen...both fast asleep. He smiled and gently picked Amy up. Nellie woke up and silently bleated in protest, but Ian just smiled and whispered,

"Don't worry, little one. She'll come back. I promise." Seeming to understand, the lamb curled back up and went back to sleep. Ian smiled once more and carried Amy to her room. Once he laid her down on her bed, he took out a book from the inside of his jacket and laid it on the table beside her bed. It was the book _The Lightning Thief_; one of Amy's favorite books. He looked on the inside of the book to make sure it was still there. It was. He smiled then left the room, hoping that Amy would find it.

When Amy woke up about an hour later, she looked around to find that she was not in Nellie's pen anymore. Instead, she was back in the same circular room, which she is starting to assume is her new bedroom. She looked on the table beside her bed to find one of her favorite books-_The Lightning Thief_, written by Rick Riordan, one of her favorite authors.

_Strange, I wonder who left this for me?_ Amy thought as she looked around. _Oh, well._ She shrugged and opened the book. She was about to start reading again, when she noticed something slipped out from the front cover. She picked it up to find a golden piece of paper. Amy opened it up and it read:

_Ian Kabra, Prince of Serpents,_

_requests the pleasure of_

_Amy Cahill_

_company on the occasion of_

_the yearly Grande Bal le Monstre_

_The Place: The Serpent Palace_

_The Date: Tonight_

_The Time: 7:00 p.m. ~ 12:00 p.m. Midnight_

_Dress traditionally/elegantly!_

_Grande Bal le Monstre?_ thought Amy. _How odd. And yet..._ She looked at the cover of _The Lightning Thief_ again, and started to get an idea. _Is it possible..._

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door knock.

"Come in," she called as she got out of the bed. Amy looked in the mirror and noticed that her silver empire dress was all wrinkled. _Oh well, it's not like I really care about my clothes. Considering Ian Kabra..._ she thought. Her direction then turned to who stepped in, and saw that it was Ian. _Well, speak of the devil._ Ian smiled when he saw the golden invitation in Amy's hand.

"I just wanted to invite you for fun. You don't have to attend if you don't want to. However, it would be nice if you met the rest of the 'gang.'" Amy looked over at him, perplexed.

"Who's attending this ball..." she trailed. But Ian merely waved his hand and replied,

"You'll know if you attend." Suspiciously, the Cahill girl's eyes traced back from the invitation to Ian, and vice versa. Eventually, she shrugged and replied,

"Alright, I guess I might as well go." Ian smiled at that, then left so she could change into her clothes for the party.

**A/N:**

**Review! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Prince of Serpents**

Later that night, everyone began to arrive. Ian greeted them all courteously, as he always does. Somehow, rumours of Ian's guest spread amongst the rest of the group. Everyone kept asking him about the guest, but Ian would just wave them away. As he was talking to two members of the group, he heard the name Amy Cahill be called, and he turned to see the most beautiful girl at the party. She was wearing a ball gown, like all of the other girls at the party, but hers was jade green, which really brought out her eyes. She wore her jade necklace, along with gold earrings, a gold bracelet, and her copper hair was in a half-updo. She looked around nervously as she walked down the stairs. And no wonder she was so nervous, everyone was staring at her.

"Amy! Over here!" he cried, waving at her. She saw him, smiled, and walked up to him.

"Ian Kabra. Is that your guest?" Ian heard someone accuse from behind him. He turned to see two very familiar faces, but of course, their eyes were hidden behind one-way black sunglasses. They both wore stone-gray ball gowns, and wore silver earrings. Their hairstyles hissed at Ian in hello. Ian nodded at the hairstyles and proclaimed,

"Yes. She is." The two giggled at each other very girly-like as Amy walked over. She smiled as Ian introduced, "Amy, I'd like to introduce you to two of the most popular females in our group. This is Stheno and Euryale Gorgon, also known as the Gorgon sisters." One of the sisters started out the sentence, as usual.

"Amy Cahill."

"We are honored to-"

"Finally meet you."

"Ian here would-"

"_Never_ stop talking about you."

"At last year's ball, he-"

"Talked so much about you-"

"We had to duck-tape his mouth shut!" both girls finished before they did their girly giggle at each other. Ian looked down in embarassment, he wished they hadn't brought that up. Amy, however, just smiled and replied,

"It's good to meet you two as well." The sisters smiled at Amy, then one of the sisters proclaimed,

"You know, Stheno, she'd make a wonderful statue, wouldn't she?" Stheno gasped and agreed,

"Euryale Gorgon, you just read my mind. Yes, she's so lovely, she'd be one of our best statues yet!" That was when things got a little uncomfortable. Hastily, Ian excused Amy and himself and started to leave. The sisters protested about how Ian wanted to keep Amy to himself, but then they got side-tracked and started talking about something else, forgetting all about the two. Ian felt Amy let go of her breath in a nice, deep sigh of relief. Then, she turned to Ian and whispered harshly,

"The Gorgon sisters?" Ian smiled maliciously and replied,

"Didn't that book warn you a bit about who might be at this party tonight?" he whispered back. Amy looked around for a bit, taking in her surroundings, and whispered back,

"So, where's Zeus?" Ian chuckled a bit and then explained,

"No, you misunderstand me, love. Everyone here, except for you, is a monster. We're known as the Monstres, a group of monsters who are, well you could say, against the world. Just because we're different doesn't mean we're bad, even though the world wants us to." Amy nodded in understanding, then looked around once more. He could tell she now could see what he meant. He looked around as well. After eight years, Ian could still not get used to the sights. Near the entrance of the hall, he could see the ogre King Thore and Queen Drizelda having another fight about the decreasing swamps that their species could inhabit. The conductor, a centaur, was directing an orchestra of two violins, one bass, and one cello, all played by more centaurs. Two sirens were singing as well.

_Hard to imagine_,Ian thought, _that these creatures that once played in anyone's imagination, are __actually real._ He looked at Amy, who he was shocked to see, was gone. He looked around before he saw her getting some punch. She was about to take out the ladle when a set of teeth plopped into the punch. She gasped in shock as a man walked up to her.

"Par-on me ma-am," the man said as he took the teeth and placed them into his mouth. He looked at Amy and smiled with his fangs. "You must forgive me," he explained in a rich transylvanian tone, "once you've hit my age everything just seems to **pop** right out of you, you know?" He laughed heartily at his joke while Amy sort of smiled. The man looked at her when he stopped laughing and asked her seriously, "Your name wouldn't happen to be Amy Cahill, would it?" Still in a bit of a shock, Amy nodded a little. The man smiled again as he bowed with a fancy swish of his cape. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dhampir, and I am the representative for the vampires." He held out his hand, and Amy cautiously shook it. Dhampir noticed her caution and proclaimed, "Now, now, there is no need to be afraid of me. I only bite people on the night of the full moon, and it is currently a quarter moon at the moment. Besides, if I even dared to bite you, Ian would send..." he shuddered at the thought, then resumed, "well, let's just say it wouldn't be very pretty. Which reminds me...did you know that at last year's ball, Ian would _not_ stop talking about you? Eventually, we had to ducktape his mouth shut just to make him keep quiet!" Dhampir laughed again heartily and Amy even laughed a little. Ian walked up to them and cleared his throat, announcing his presence amongst the vampire and the beautiful girl. Dhampir looked at Ian, smiled, and proclaimed, "Ah, Ian. Your lovely bride here and I were just talking about you." Amy looked over at Ian, confused, while Ian glared at the vampire with his amber and angry reptilian eyes for even saying that. Getting the message, Dhampir smiled nervously, excused himself, and hastily left. Amy turned to Ian once again and asked,

"Lovely...bride?" Ian laughed nervously before stating,

"Don't worry about it for now. Would you like a dance?" He held out his arm for Amy to take. She started to laugh, but she stopped when she saw that Ian was serious. Now out of nervousness, she cautiously took his arm and they walked right onto the middle of the dancing floor, where mostly everyone else was dancing. Right then and there, an intense Spanish song began playing, and soon, only Ian and Amy were left on the dance floor.

**(A/N: I'm sorry but I don't really know how to make a good dance scene without a good song to play it with! I'll just leave this part to your imagination! Tee-hee!)**

When the song was over, everyone was clapping wildly and the couple on the dance floor were breathing heavily in exhaustion. Then, they noticed their position and retracted quickly, blushing, but no one could tell the blush because of their (yes, Ian's face too!) red faces. Eventually, the ball resumed.

**A/N:**

**I'm sorry this took so long to update, as you can see, this chapter is LOOONG! Well, maybe not quite that long, but still. Review please!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Prince of Serpents**

The Gorgon sisters and Dhampir weren't the only characters that Amy met at the ball. She also met some witches, a werewolf named Ardolf and his she-mate Livana, and even made friends with a few golems who were guarding the palace as the party commenced. Suddenly, as if by some unseen cue, everyone who was dancing on the dance floor departed and everyone formed a crowd around that same floor. She craned her neck to see what was going on, when she felt someone push her towards the dance floor. She saw that it was Ian.

"I-Ian, what's g-g-going on here?" she whispered in a curious yet suspicious tone. Ian smiled at her, but his eyes told her to shut up. Which she did. When she was close enough, she saw three very old woman that formed a triangle on the dance floor. They wore rags that were as black as night, and they each had one eye socket where one eye would be. One of them was holding a single eye. Ian stepped forward to these old women and proclaimed,

"Thank you for coming out of your own free will tonight. All of us are grateful," he signalled the whole of the guests at the party, "that another might be able to join us."

"Do not thank us yet, young Prince of the Serpents," one of the old women croaked. "Now, where is the young one known as Amy Cahill?" Amy tried to blend into the crowd, but she felt someone push her forward. Ian took her hand and guided her to the middle of the floor.

"This is she, great Moirae," Ian claimed as he positioned her in the middle of the womens triangle. Amy looked over at him, alarmed.

_Moirae?_ She mouthed alarmingly at him. Ian nodded and smiled at her, as if there wasn't anything to worry. The woman who was holding the rotten eyeball tossed it so that it faced her from only a few feet.

"Ah yes, I see her now. She is lovely, isn't she Atropos?" one commented. The one known as Atropos nodded and replied,

"Yes, she is very lovely, Clotho." The three began to circle around her ceremoniously and simultaneously as the third one claimed,

"What are we waiting for, sisters? Let's do it!" Meanwhile, Ian was in the crowd, twiddling his thumbs very nervously.

"Nervous?" someone whispered into his ear. Ian turned to see Dhampir there with a smirk on his face and sympathy in his eyes. After holding it in, Ian let out a small, impatient sigh and nodded. Dhampir nodded as well. He whispered into his ear,

"Pray my friend. Pray, pray, and furthermore, pray." Ian nodded and smiled at his friend's advice, then turned back to the floor, where the three Fates began chanting their ancient rhyme:

Αρχαία εξουσίας, να μας αναζητούν έξω.

_Ancient power, seek us out._

Πείτε μας τι πρέπει να γνωρίζουμε σήμερα.

_Tell us what we should know now._

Μήπως αυτό το κορίτσι ανήκουν μαζί μας;

_Does this girl belong with us?_

Ή θα πρέπει αυτή να είναι σε βρασμού ποτ?

_Or should she be in the boiling pot?_

Αρχαία εξουσία, αρχαία εξουσία ...

_Ancient power, ancient power..._

_I'm not sure if I want to know what that means,_ thought Amy as she stood there in the middle of the floor in total confusion. Suddenly, she began to feel a little...slimmer than before. Her arms were starting to attach themselves to her body, her legs got stuck together, and she was actually shrinking.

"Wha-what'ssss going on?" she cried, but then covered her mouth with her tail because of her hiss. Wait...her tail? When everything stopped rearranging itself, Amy took a good long look around, then took a look at herself, and was not happy with what just happened.

She had just been morphed into a beautiful, jade green snake. Ian let out a big sigh in relief. But then, he drew back his breath when he heard Ardolf mutter to his girlfriend,

"Well, she got the first part. If only it was over for her now." Livana sighed and shook her head slowly, as if remembering some disturbing memory. Ian tried not to get angry, and only took a few deep breaths to calm himself. That was when the Fates started chanting again:

Αρχαία εξουσία, αρχαία δύναμη

Ancient power, ancient power

Επιδιώξτε μας σε μία ακόμη φορά

Seek us out one more time

Μήπως αυτό το κορίτσι περάσει τις εξετάσεις;

Does this girl pass the test?

Ή μήπως αυτή έχει κλίμακες αντί του δέρματος μονίμως;

Or will she have scales instead of skin forevermore?

Αρχαία εξουσίας, να μας πείτε τώρα!

_Ancient power, tell us now!_

When this chant was over, it took a while. During that while, nothing happened. Ian was praying again and again in his mind, while the other monsters were thinking _Oh, what a dissapointment. She really was a cute girl. Poor Ian._ Much to everyone's surprise, however, the snake that was Amy began squirming around and began regaining arms, legs, and a jade green ballgown. After about ten more seconds, Amy was standing there once more, in her same jade green ballgown, hairstyle, etc. Ian looked over hopefully at the Fates who began whispering amongst themselves. The eyeball that was facing Amy rolled itself back to the hags and one of the old women picked it up as they whispered some more.

Finally, about three minutes later, the Moirae departed from their discussion and one of the old women announced,

"I'm sure we can make an exception with this one." Everyone smiled, especially Ian, who was smiling so big, you would think that it could reach all the way up to Jupiter. Everyone smiled, that is, except for Amy who had no idea what's going on.

"Okay, I'm sorry, b-b-but what exactly i-is going on h-h-here?" she asked the whole of the ball. Every monster looked around, quite nervous as to tell the human girl what was to become of her. When she didn't get an answer from the crowd, Amy then turned to Ian expectantly. Ian smiled nervously before claiming,

"Well, what it means is that you are able to join." Amy looked at him confused.

"I am able to join..." she left off, hoping for an answer. Ian signalled himself and all of the monsters and answered,

"Well, us. You passed the Fates' test, and because of that, you are able to join the Monstres and become a monster." He said this with a smile, but when he was finished with what he said, he realized how big of a mistake he made. Amy's eyes widened.

_A...a monster? I'm supposed to become a monster? _she thought with a panic. Dhampir, Ardolf, and all the other guys put their hand to the forehead and shook their heads from side to side at how grave a mistake Ian made. The girls scoffed in disgust at how he called them monsters and began murmuring amongst themselves. Ian's eyes also widened and he, too, began to panic.

"No...wait! I didn't...mean...that. I meant...well..." he tried to think of a good excuse, but Amy could see right through it.

"Oh. I'm sure. I get exactly what you're saying, Ian C-_cobra_." Ian's face fell even more then it already had as Amy stated, "In fact, I'm sure you're pretty happy with yourself. You're a monster, so why not turn other people **who don't deserve it** into a monster too? Oh, I'm sure you're very happy, and not to mention very proud of yourself. A pity, too. I was actually starting to like you." With that, she slapped him clean across the face, with a nice _slap!_ that echoed across the tears in her eyes, Amy stormed out of the ballroom.

"Amy, wait!" Ian cried as he started going after her. But too late, she was already gone.

"Way to go, snake boy," Ardolf murmured under his breath.

**A/N:**

**Yes indeed-y, Ardolf. Way to go, snake boy. Just so you know, the lines underneath the phrases are the translation, not what they actually said. The first phrase with the weird letters is what they said, the translation is underneath that. Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Prince of Serpents**

Silence dawned all around the ballroom. Ian continued to look at the spot where Amy once stood before she ran away, crying. Dhampir came up to Ian and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"It's alright, Ian," Dhampir comforted, "we all make mistakes." Some monsters shivered at the thought. The Gorgon sisters stepped up and asked,

"Ian, dear-"

"should we-"

"make her _see_-"

"some sense?" This time, however, neither Stheno nor Euryale (if you could tell the two apart) did their silly girl-ish giggle. Instead, they looked rather grim. Ian smiled at his friends' offer but shook his head. The sisters nodded in understanding and retracted back into the crowd that was surrounding Ian. Ardolf and his girlfriend were up next, and Livana offered to talk with Ian's furious guest. Before he could say anything, however, she left after Amy. Ardolf went to Ian and confirmed,

"Don't worry, mate. She won't bite her. After all, she was in the same shoes that Amy's in right now, eh?" Ian nodded and, eventually, the ball was back into full swing, but a feeling of regret and gloom fell upon the guests.

_Meanwhile..._

Amy, now in a gorgeous red velvet nightgown, was crying in her room. Nellie, her pet lamb, was with her, and cuddled with her as she weeped. How dare he think that she would just fall at his feet and become a monster like him and those ugly friends of his! A knock sounded on the door. Wiping away some of her tears, she replied,

"Come in." She was surprised to see that it was Ardolf's girlfriend Livana. Livana was a beautiful girl, with curly, brunette hair, fair skin, and lips as red as blood. Her eyes were stormy gray, but seemed to blend in well with her overall looks. She was wearing a torn mud brown taffeta halter ball gown, which was over a completely white long-sleeved underdress. The she-wolf walked over to the crying girl and sat down beside her onto her bed.

"Is it all right if I talked with you for a while, Amy?" she asked, her eyes questioning. Unconsciously, Amy nodded. Livana nodded as well, then did a big heavy sigh and began, "Amy...look. I know how you feel. A long time ago, this same thing happened to me. Ardolf and I were best friends. However, when we grew up, he happened to fall in love with me. He brought me to the Fates and, like you, I passed. When I realized what was going on, I was furious with Ardolf. I wouldn't talk to him for weeks. But, we talked and I realized how lonely Ardolf was. He was a werewolf ever since he was six. He was lonely, and just wanted someone to be there with him. Now, of course, my story is definitely not the same as yours. But, it has the same perspective. Ian was just not careful with his words. He truly loves you and just wants someone to be there with him so that he wasn't so lonely. Of course, I don't mean as in...well, you know..." At this, both girls winced at the thought of becoming toys to their respectable mates. Livana continued, "What I mean is, all he wants is a friend. All of us do. We're monsters, so people tend to hate us. But we have hearts too." Amy looked up at the she-wolf in surprise. Livana chuckled and commented, "Don't worry. You're not the first mortal to have never thought about that." Nellie cuddled closer to Amy as she finished, "I would talk to Ian if I were you. Or at least try to look at this situation a little differently." She stood up, hugged Amy and Nellie farewell, and left without another word, leaving Amy to her thoughts.

**A/N:**

**I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry about not updating as soon as possible. I just didn't know what to do next, then all of a sudden, BOOM! It came to me, thank god. Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Prince of the Serpents**

The next morning, Amy woke up and sat up in her bed. Memories of last night flashed through her mind like a frequent slideshow. She got out of bed and dressed in her new gown that was provided for her...a strapless midnight black gown with two layers...a black underskirt and a short black dress with diamonds scattered onto it. On her feet, she wore black slippers with little gold roses on them. When she was ready, she stepped out of her bedroom and began her search for Ian. Nellie, who had a big blue ribbon around her neck, followed her friend as they searched around the castle.

After not being able to find him, Amy gave up and, after dropping Nellie off at her pen, went to the library and started reading a book. She was getting to chapter 5 when she heard crashing coming from the end of the hall across from the library. Curious, she walked to the end and craned her neck to see what was going on, but ducked away when a guard was thrown in her direction. Praying that she was good enough to blend in with the shadows, she crept through the maze of statues and busts to find a basilisk making everyone which way paralyzed.

A guard, who is very wounded, crawled up to Amy and cried,

"Young miss, you must get away. He's having a temper!" He coughed and wheezed before continuing, "Get away from here before it's..." The guard stopped short and fell to the side, completely paralyzed. Completely terrified, Amy tried to creep away by sneaking away the same way she got in.

_Maybe I can grab Nellie and we can run to my bedroom. We'd probably be safe there,_ Amy thought as she crept away. However, both her and her thoughts stopped completely when she sensed a dark and luminous presence hanging over her...literally. She looked up slowly and saw the face of a very angry giant serpent.

"Going sssssssomewhere, love?" the snake hissed angrily. So it _is_ Ian. Smiling nervously up at him, she slowly took off her shoes (for they were heels) and at the last moment began running for her life. However, Ian was much faster than she is, for he caught her and coiled up around her as tight, but not as life-squeezing, as possible. She struggled and fought with all her might, only to find that it was leading nowhere.

_Wait a minute. Livana said to look at the situation a little differently._ Amy reasoned as she looked up at the fearsome Basilisk. The prince was just holding her, probably deciding whether to kill her by paralyzing her, or squeezing her to death. _Maybe_, Amy thought, _in order to get away from this snake, I need to __**think**__ like a snake. Well, considering the circumstances, better than nothing. _

Out of instinct, she started reciting in her mind:

Αρχαία εξουσία, να με βοηθήσει τώρα

_Ancient power, help me now_

σειρά μου σε ένα φίδι

_Turn me into a serpent!_

At once, Amy felt her body growing smaller and slimmer. Her skin was replaced by scales and her teeth were transforming into fangs. When the transformation was over, Amy found herself as...

A garden snake.

_Perfect_, she thought as she easily slithered out of the humongous Basilisk's coil and slid into a crack in the wall. Furious that she had escaped his grasp, Ian snarled at the crack, and decided to take it out on more guards instead. Relieved that she was safe for now, Amy let out a big sigh of relief, but she drew back that sigh when a tail coiled around her mouth from behind her.

"No need to worry. I am a friend." Amy used her tail to snap off the other snake's tail and whipped around to find another snake. He was bigger than her (obviously) but he didn't seem threatening. Moreover, he seemed rather friendly. "My name issss Lavika, and I am the general and clossssessst friend of the Prince." Amy was about to introduce herself when Lavika resumed his speech, "I already know who you are, Amy Cahill. I wasss in charge of the group Hisss Highnesss ssssent to bring you to him. Lissssten, we have no time. The Prince will not calm down from hissss temper unlesss ssssomeone talksssss to him. Normally, that would be me, but he issssn't very happy with me, sssince I failed to take you to him properly." They peeked through the crack to see more guards get thrown and paralyzed. "We have no time!" Lavika cried. "You musssst go and talk to the Prince." The little garden snake was appalled.

"How do I do that?" Lavika looked over at the snake confidently.

"Hissss Highnessss chossse you assss hisss bride for a reasssson. Go and talk to him assss you would any other persssson," he explained. A guard was thrown in their direction and the wall in which Amy and Lavika were hiding in was crumbled to pieces. "Good luck and hurry!" Lavika cried before he slithered in retreat.

_Oh wonderful,_ Amy thought as she slithered up to the raging Basilisk.

Αρχαία εξουσία να με βοηθήσει τώρα

_Ancient power, help me now_

σειρά μου σε ένα ανθρώπινο κορίτσι

_Turn me into a human girl_

With the incantation thought, she transformed back into her normal self with her black gown and everything. She continued walking up to the angry serpent, her mind racing. How was she supposed to calm a giant snake? Lavika said to talk to him like she would any other person. She doesn't really talk to any other person except for Dan, and Dan and Ian were definitely not alike in any way. As Ian continued to trash the place, he noticed Amy was walking to him, shyly, with her head down. His heart pounded at the sight as he slithered up to her until they were face-to-face. Amy didn't notice he was there until she literally bumped into him. He glared at her and hissed,

"What?"

**A/N:**

**OMG A CLIFFIE! This is really intense right now. How did Amy know about those incantations? And why would Lavika help Amy when he was demoted (or whatever you call it) from his job b/c of her? More importantly, how the heck would Amy be able to calm a Basilisk down? No, seriously, how would she? Amy needs to think fast here! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Prince of Serpents**

Ian's angry hiss of 'what?' echoed through the air as Amy and the angry basilisk competed in their great stare-off. Tension dominated the atmosphere. Amy took a deep breath and said with a quiver in her voice,

"Ian, whatever you are mad at, it doesn't need a temper. Please...just...c-calm down." Angry, Ian roared and screeched,

"YOU DARE ORDER _ME_ AROUND?" Cringing, Amy regained herself and replied,

"No. I-I'm not o-o-ordering you around. I'm just asking...could you p-please calm down from...whatever it i-is you're m-m-mad at?" She forced her soft jade eyes to stare into his grotesque reptilian eyes that were towering above her. The angry prince growled and hissed,

"You'll be paralyzed for thissss insssssolence!" That was when his reptilian eyes changed briefly to a soft white light, and then back to reptilian.

However, both were surprised to find that Amy didn't get paralyzed. Amy found this opportunity to quickly say,

"Ian, please, I'm sorry for hurting you at the ball!" The basilisk drew back in surprise at the apology. The Cahill girl continued, "I overreacted and now I know that I shouldn't have. I'm sorry for my actions. Now...please...just calm down." To her surprise, Ian only lowered his head in shame.

"Amy, it wassss not your fault. You ssssshouln't have apologized." That was when he shrank from a humongous basilisk to a handsome man. He was wearing a black sports coat with black slacks. On his head was the same simple golden band with the same garnet, which by now, Amy figured out, must be the crown. Ian was also wearing a very guilty look on his face.

"Why not? I did overreact..." Amy started, but she was interrupted by her handsome suitor.

"But it was my fault for asking the Fates to come and test you without even talking to you about it in the first place. Really, it should be me apologizing, not you." But Amy shook her head.

"I think we both messed it up at the ball. That is, unless you still think you're perfect enough not to make a mistake," she said, with a hint of joke in her voice. She smiled a little. Ian noticed this smile and smiled as well, thinking of how beautiful she looked when she smiled. He chuckled and replied,

"No. I've figured out that I'm not 'perfect' like my parents kept saying I was." Surprisingly, Amy walked up to Ian and hugged him head-on. Surprised, but eventually, Ian hugged her back. He asked as they broke from their embrace,

"So, we're friends again, then?" Amy smiled, which the prince found sparkling, as she nodded _yes_. They hugged again, and when they broke apart, Amy asked,

"So, was that what you were mad about?" Ian shook his head and his smile disappeared. He walked to the entrance of a door where he came from as a basilisk in the first place and gestured for her to follow. Nervous as to what could be troubling her friend, Amy followed him. It turns out that the place was a giant office. It was circular with a big rug on the bottom. The rug had the word _Monstre_ written in a beautiful cursive, despite what the word meant. The room was overall green and gold with emeralds and gold in the walls. It was beautiful, like the palace. Amy walked to the desk that Ian was sitting at as he took a paper and slid it across the desk for Amy to see.

She picked it up and was shocked to find that it was from a very familiar person.

_To whomever it may concern:_

_The people at the Madrigal branch are very angry that you, Ian Kabra, have stolen our future branch leader, Amy Cahill, from us. Especially since the world thinks you are dead, which you should be. We must ask that you release Miss Amy to us. If you refuse to do so, then we will do the unthinkable. You have been warned. Return her to us...or else._

_Sincerely,_

_The Man in Black_

"What? How could they do this?" Amy asked, completely shocked as she gave the letter back. Ian took the letter and replied,

"I don't know but obviously you are worth to the world a lot more than anybody else has thought." _Even though you are worth much more to me then all the riches in the world combined_, he thought to himself as he walked over and looked out of a window that had been broken from his fury. That was when he realized what a mess the place was. He looked around to find glass, paralyzed guards, and blood from the wounded ones. He turned to Amy and said jokingly, "I just now realized what a mess I've made of the place." Amy giggled as he started walking around and un-paralyzing most of the guards. Servants came in and cleaned up the office and the hall that led to the office like that. The now un-paralyzed guards went back to work and the wounded ones were sent to the palace infirmary. When the office was back to the way it was before (except for the broken windows and artifacts), Amy asked,

"You're not going to turn me over, are you?" The prince looked over at her, completely shocked.

"Of _course_ not. However much you're worth to them, you're worth triple that much to me. No. I'm thinking of having either a compromise or a war."

"Over _me_? A _war_? Ian, that's absolutely ridiculous!"

"But if they don't agree to a compromise then I most certainly will not hand you over. Not after everything that's happened thus far."

"And what sort of compromise are you going to propose?" Amy asked, challengingly. Ian was about to retort when he realized...

"I'm still working on that. Messenger!" he cried. A small water snake answered his call. He bent down so that he and the snake were eye-to-eye and ordered,

"Tell the people who gave you that letter that I will not give her to them, but I will come up with a compromise. If not a compromise, then..." he looked over at Amy, for some sort of signal. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him on what he was going to say. He sighed aggravatedly and finished, "If not a compromise, then war."

"What? Ian, are you crazy?" Amy cried as Ian sent the messenger away with the message. She tried to stop the snake, but Ian stood in her path. "You do realize that war isn't the only option?"

"I know. That's why I added the 'compromise' part in there," he replied in a simple manner. She gaped at him then, furious, stormed off. Ian, angry as well, ran a hand through his hair, then sat down on his chair at his desk.

**A/N:**

**Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Prince of Serpents**

In a dark alley way above the surface, far, far away from the Prince of Serpents' palace, a man dressed completely in black awaits for a signal. A signal, or a message, or anything. He looks around. A young couple walks by, holding hands. About four or five children ran by them, playing with a red kickball and passing it to one another. Trees' leaves fell from their branches once more, as fall took the air. The man in black kept to the shadows of the alley from which he hid. Suddenly, he heard a hiss from behind him. He turned to see a water snake slither out of a sewerhole. When both have made eye contact, and sure that no one else was around, the snake spoke,

"Hissss majesssssty the Prince of Sssserpentssss claimsssss that he isssss not willing to hand over Amy Cahill to you. But," the snake held up his tail to prevent the man in black from speaking out, "he isssss willing to come up with a compromisssssse. If not a compromisssssse, then war."

Silence erupted between the snake and the man. Compromise or war, huh? Why must Lucians always be so...predictable? The man in black sighed and said,

"Ask your master what sort of compromise he has in mind. If I do not agree with the compromise, then at least one thousand men will come after your master, Amy Cahill, and anyone else who resides in the palace. We do know where it is, so tell him that he had better be careful." The snake bowed in thanks for the message, then slithered away. _So this is how Richie Rich's gonna play it, huh? _The man thought to himself, _all right, I guess I can be flexible._ Smiling in victory, the man started whistling the Clair de Lune to himself, despite it being very out of tune, and walked away from the alley as if he didn't have all the care in the world.

Meanwhile, way underneath the surface of the palace, Nellie was given her daily measurement in her room. She had gained about ten pounds since yesterday. The servants walked away as Amy cuddled with her growing pet.

"Aw, Nellie, look at you! You're growing to be a fine young sheep!" Amy was looking beautiful today, as always, with a french braid. Her hair had been cut to breast-length now, but her hair was still long. She was also wearing a royal blue dress with white frills.

"Baaaaa!" Nellie bleated in agreement, as though she understood exactly what Amy was talking about. However, when Ian stepped into Nellie's room, Nellie cowered and ran into her pen. Amy turned to see Ian standing there, smirking at her. She snarled at his smirk and asked coldly,

"What's that for?" Ian only smirked at her even more and answered simply,

"What's what for?" His eyes looked playful, and his silky British accent sent shivers down her spine, as usual. She slitted her eyes into reptilian green unknowingly and answered,

"You know. Your smirk. You act as if you know something that I've yet to find out." Ian shrugged at her comment and replied,

"Oh. Nothing." Her reptilian eyes disappeared as she raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. Finally, he gave up and added, "All right, all right. My researchers and I were up last night trying to figure out why you didn't freeze when I tried to paralyze you the other day."

"And..." Ian's smirk grew even wider as he finished,

"And, as it turns out, the only one who is not able to be paralyzed from the Prince of Serpents', that's me, gaze, is the rightful one to be crowned alongside him." Her eyes went big. Ian started chuckling evilly as he said, "In other words, love, the _Princess of Serpents _is the only one who cannot become paralyzed under the Prince of Serpents' paralyzing gaze and therefore is claimed the future bride of the prince."

One minute passed.

Then two.

Finally, after about five minutes, all Amy could ever think to do was _run_. Which she did. Ian, smirking like he never smirked before, morphed into a Basilisk, his signature snake, and began to chase after her. Of course, a Basilisk would surely out-run or our-slither any human, so Ian quickly caught up to Amy and slithered completely around her, so that she would be tied up by his snake-like form. Soon, he morphed back into his human form and was holding Amy by the arms, laughing in pure happiness. Eventually, amidst the struggle, Amy started laughing as well.

Before either knew it, they were staring up at each other, locked in each others arms, their faces within breathing range of each other. Amy and Ian's laughing ceased as Ian took the chance to lean in and kiss his future bride. Amy, subconsciously, leaned in as well. They were so close when...

The messenger water snake came back.

"Ssssssire," the snake began. The two, Amy realizing what was going on, Ian silently cursing for the interruption, broke apart from their soon-to-be kiss and Ian turned to the messenger.

"What?" he asked, annoyed. Amy began to sneak off, when Ian snapped his fingers at her **(A/N: wow, so demanding!) **and motioned for her to stay. Sighing in aggravation, Amy stayed where she was.

"The Madrigal got the messsssage. He repliessss that he wantssss to know what sssssort of compromissssssse you have in mind. If the compromisssssse you come up with doessss not make him happy, then at leassssst one thousssssssand men will come after you, the Princessssss," he gestured towards Amy. Amy was about to protest but the snake continued, "and anybody elssssse who might resssside in the palace." Before anyone could say anything else, the water snake added, "He claimsssss that they do know where the palace isssss, ssssso he warnssss that you sssshould be careful." The angry Ian snarled as he thanked the messenger and dismissed him. Then, forgetting all about Amy, he stormed off to his office. Not knowing what else to do, Amy followed him.

However, when she reached the office, Ian had morphed back into a basilisk and was ready to attack Amy. He leaned down to bite her into two, but she dodged out of the way just in time. Out of instinct, Amy took a silver and garnet-encrusted dagger that was previously displayed on the wall, climbed, and thrushed it at his cheek. Ian roared in rage but Amy was even louder when she cried,

"IAN KABRA IF YOU DO NOT CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW I WILL DO WORSE THAN MURDER!" In all honesty, she meant it too. Sensing Amy was telling the truth and that she was completely serious, Ian turned back into a human and felt the cheek where Amy sliced him. She climbed down and put the dagger down on the desk. She looked back at him and asked,

"Are you alright?" Ian looked over at her and answered briefly,

"Oh, yes. Fine. Just...finally getting back into my senses. Thanks for that by the way." Amy smiled and then asked,

"So, what's going to happen from here? Knowing the Madrigals' stories, I'd say that, with a compromise, they probably won't keep their end of the bargain." Ian nodded and answered,

"You're right. But, don't worry. I have a plan. Assuming you want to stay here, of course," Ian added that last part, since his whole plan was not only for him to be happy, but for Amy to be happy as well. Amy thought for a bit and then replied,

"In all honesty I'd rather be a prisoner in a palace with a psycho prince then to be the assumed 'Leader of the Madrigals'." Ian chuckled a bit at Amy's little remark and said,

"Okay, just to clear the air, you're definitely not a prisoner. Not now, not before, not ever. And I'll just take what you just said as a yes." Amy smirked a little at that comment and then asked,

"So, what's your accalimed 'plan'?" Ian smirked evilly as he began to explain his plan.

**A/N:**

**Chapter 15 done! Hallejuah! Oh jeez, I'm going to have to end this story soon, huh? Review, please! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Prince of Serpents**

The next day, Ian, Amy, and the Man in Black stood on a street in the middle of the night, finally brokering a deal.

"So it's arranged then? Amy will stay with us for 6 months and then she will stay with you for 6 months?" Amy and Ian looked over at each other, then both nodded at him. The Man in Black took out his arm for Amy to take, since it was their turn to keep her, but then he felt a huge pain in his heart. He looked down to see a dagger had been struck into his heart, and then...nothing.

The Madrigal fell before the Prince and Princess of Serpents...dead. All of the other Madrigals who were hiding nearby jumped out and were getting ready to attack the man and woman. But, little did anyone (except Ian and Amy) know that two thousand of the most deadly snakes in all the world were also waiting, and they attacked with great force. The battle raged on...both men and snakes fell on both sides.

Ian and Amy fought as well, but it wasn't soon afterwards that a few Madrigals came together and tried to kidnap the Princess. Soon, Amy was taken away right under Ian's nose. When the battle was over, as snakes were being tended, the Prince noticed his future bride was gone. He began searching around the battlefield, but she was no where to be found.

**A/N:**

**I know, I know, another cliffie! But it's about to get real good in here, trust me! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Prince of Serpents**

Months passed since Amy was taken away from Ian during the battle. Ian and thousands of other search parties of snakes searched around the world for the girl desperately, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Vikram Kabra, the last Kabra alive, had died long ago, and the mansion was bought to the new leader of the Madrigals. Now, of course, this was supposed to be Amy. But, after some careful persuasion and tons of fighting, it turned out to be Dan as the leader of the Madrigals instead of his older sister.

"Don't worry, Ames. You've been through a lot. I'll take your place." he convinced her of this finally and Amy started to feel like she was safe and with her family once again. But that was where she was wrong. Over the next few weeks, Dan stopped playing video games. He stopped eating candy. He stopped...well he completely stopped being Dan. Instead, it was as if a demon took over him. Dan became greedy, selfish, and began ordering everybody (including her) around as if he/she was a slave. He even threatened to kill one agent when he learned that he almost succeeded in a training mission. Amy had never felt so much more insecure in her life, and that's saying something.

One other thing bothered her. It was the fact that she realized that she was missing the Palace of the Serpents. She was missing the happiness of the lifestyle there, the beautiful library, Nellie her lamb, and, despite her brain telling her it was wrong, especially Ian. She missed his flamboyant ways, his deep dark brown eyes, his hearty laugh, and his smile. These were only a few of the many things that she missed about him. Dan noticed his sister's loneliness and decided to do something about it. He called her to his office and when she came, he asked,

"So, Amy, what do you think about marriage?" Perplexed, Amy asked her greedy younger brother,

"What are you talking about?" Dan merely shrugged and sat down on his office chair.

"What do you think about marriage? I've noticed you've been a little lonely lately, so I thought I would take the liberty of inviting you the oppurtunity to...well...have a man other than me in your life," the younger Cahill explained proudly. He probably assumed that this would make his lonely sister happy. However, he had quite the opposite effect.

"Daniel Cahill, are you CRAZY? You know I would never do something like that! How could you?" she screamed at him. Dan raised his eyebrows, surprised at this. When he finally caught on, he growled,

"Are you saying my helping you with a little loneliness is a sin?" Amy, shocked at her brother's conclusion, simply stated,

"No, I'm just saying I don't want your help. If you'd just let me go, then I wouldn't be so lonely." Dan growled and replied,

"You know why I will never allow that."

"And why not?" Amy asked challengingly. The furious man stood up and slammed his fists onto his office desk, all the while claiming,

"Because I know that, if I ever let you go, then you would run to your precious snake boy! No! I lost you too many times, Amy! I can't risk it!" Now done with his outburst, Dan sat down and cooly added, "If you're not so willing to be as useful as you once was anymore, then I have no choice but to force you. There will be a party tomorrow night filled with suitors. You will pick one of them. You will marry your choice and we will lead a happy life without that stupid Cobra. Now please leave. I have arrangements to make." Angry and frustrated, Amy gaped before saying,

"You can't tell me of my future like that! Last time I checked, you don't decide what my life is going to end up like!" Now annoyed as well as angry, Dan scorned,

"But I **am** the leader of the Madrigals. I organized that team to kidnap you back from Ian for a reason. If you are going to be my sister, then you better start listening to your own brother, your own flesh and blood, and to _shut. up._" Tears in her eyes, Amy opened her mouth to retort something, but then closed her mouth again and ran out of the office. When she reached her dreary bedroom, much unlike the one in the Palace of the Serpents, she slammed the door shut then crashed onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.

Meanwhile, a young and beautiful serpentess had watched the entire scene from a crack in the wall high above the office. She had heard every word, and she was not happy at all with what was going to happen.

"I musssst warn the masssster," she whispered to herself. Then, she slithered away as fast and as quietly as she could, praying that she could get to the prince in time.

**A/N:**

**Okay, before tons of people arrive with pitch forks and torches, I just want to say that I'm sorry for making Dan so evil. Really, I am. Really, I truly, truly, truly, truly am. But this is only going to make the Amy/Ian coupleness grow stronger. Trust me, it will become better. Trust me. Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Prince of Serpents**

It was the night of the party, and true to Dan's word, the room was filled with suitors. All of them must have at least asked for Amy's hand in marriage ten times each. It was exhausting, and of course, by the time the party was almost over, Dan wasn't happy with the fact that his sister didn't pick a single one of them. He walked over to her and whispered harshly,

"What are you nuts? Just pick one already!" However, Amy just gave him a stern glance, which said _I won't do it, and you can't make me_. Little did she know that her now sly and conniving brother had a few more tricks up his sleeve. It was almost the stroke of midnight when one of the lords, the dull Lord Valentyne, finished dancing with Amy and, at Dan's signal, turned to Amy and ordered,

"Amy. Meet me at the gazebo out on the lawn in exactly ten minutes." Knowing exactly what was going to happen, Amy sighed and rolled her eyes as Lord Valentyne left. She continued walking around, ignoring the suitors' proposals and compliments, and walked all the way to the hall where she encountered a hall mirror. She obvserved herself. Unlike at the Palace of the Serpents, she couldn't pick her dress (another less freedom thing around here) but the choice wasn't all that bad. She was wearing a victorian-style light blue dress, which you could imagine was not comfortable in the least. Thank goodness, it was not a bustle gown...she would have commited suicide if she had to wear a bustle gown! Anyway, despite it being very tight, it only had silver lacing and frills on it, making it pretty plain.

Ten minutes had passed, and true to Amy's suspicions, soon she found herself in an awkward position. Lord Valentyne was in front of her, down on one knee. He took her hands and then looked up and asked, "Amelia Cahill, will you be my wife?" Amy darted her eyes to her brother, who was smug with victory. With everyone that was watching them, he knew that Amy couldn't refuse this proposal of marriage. She looked down. Lord Valentyne was smiling at her, but there seemed to be something fake about him. As if he didn't want to do this. She looked around to find that most of the suitors looked almost relieved that they weren't forced to ask her like this. She took a deep breath and was about to say something when she heard something she thought she would never hear again.

A snake's hiss. With her reptilian eyes, she looked around. There was no snake in sight, except for one tiny little garden snake, hidden in a crack in the mansion wall, far, far away. The snake, looking relieved that she found him, bowed to her and quickly hissed at her,

"Do not worry, misssstressss. The massster issss here. Give ussss the sssignal and we'll take you home." With that, the snake slithered back into the mansion wall. Sighing in relief, Amy looked down at the lord. Smirking, she took her hands away from his, and replied,

"I'm rather sorry for this. I now realize how much nobody wants this." She then turned to the audience that was watching her and claimed, "I deeply apologize for my brother's forcing you to be here. If you wish, you all may leave. This party is over." At more encouragement, the lords and dukes began to leave. While everyone was distracted, Amy quickly turned to leave, only to be intercepted by none other than her furious younger brother Dan. He was as mad as ever, with eyes red and almost bulging from his head, his veins pulsing on his head, arms, and hands, and he growled the most menacing growl anyone would have heard.

"You. Ruined. Everything." the growl managed to croak from his throat. Amy merely smiled and replied confidently,

"I know." Amy raised her hands and undid the mess of hair that was on her head. When she was done, her hair flowed freely and she asked, "Now, Dan, could you please move?" However, the corrupt leader did not move an inch. Unexpectedly, Amy felt the biggest slap across her face that was unlike any other slap before. Shocked, Amy held her hand up to where her brother slapped her. From the shadows, Ian saw the slap and almost attacked everyone in sight, but he calmed himself down.

"No. I will not move. You ruined everything Amy. You ruined your chance to be useful, and my chance to be even more rich than before. You lousy, good-for-nothing-" However, he stopped short. Dan couldn't move. Only his eyes were the only things that were moving. Retracting from her paralyzation eyes, Amy walked around Dan as he stood there, the hand he used to slap his sister with still up in the air. As she walked around him, Amy claimed,

"You know, _Daniel_, you've changed. One minute, you're the most dependable and trusting brother I've ever known. The next, you're this. A monster. Worse than any other real monster I've ever met. I wonder how that happened?" Amy faced her brother, her green-ish yellow reptilian eyes glowing brightly and angrily. "Well, you know what? I'm sick and tired of it. You can't order people around as if they were slaves. You can't tell people how to live their lives. How to do certain missions and everything under that category, yes. But to get into their lives personally and to try to change it to your satisfaction? No. That is no longer allowed. I suggest you change your ways and shape up right now. Or else, I'll just have to come back and teach you that exact same lesson with a thousand times the pain. Sayonara, _brother_." And with that, Amy let him out of his paralyzation and ran for it.

**A/N:**

**Latest chapter up! Don't worry, the Amy/Ian-ness will be in the next chapter, I promise! If you guys are still mad about Dan and are not happy with the results, then think about this: at least Amy now knows where she belongs. This chapter was about that. Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :)**

**P.S. Please do not send a mob after me because of Dan. I'm allergic to mobs.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Prince of Serpents**

A dark figure walked down an empty street of London. The figure looked like someone from the medieval era. She wore a black cape as dark as the night itself, which hid her very well, unlike the jade green dress that she wore, which shone under the sickly yellow light of one of the lampposts that she walked under. The figure lifted her hood to reveal her face, and that of a garden snake, which was riding on her shoulder. After looking around, Amy looked to the snake and told him,

"Tell your master the coast is clear." The garden snake bowed, and left, but a man's voice spoke,

"No need." Amy turned to find a very handsome man step out of the shadows, a little distance away from where she stood. He had cinnamon-complex skin, dark brown eyes, and a mop of black hair, which almost hid his eyes completely. He smirked as he jokingly claimed, "You know, a beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn't be out here at this time of night. You never know who you are going to meet." Amy also smirked and replied,

"The same goes to you. How do you know I won't hurt you?" The man, who was wearing a cape similar to Amy's, took off the hood to his cape to reveal his face. Sure enough, it was Ian.

"Because," Ian claimed with an obvious tone, "You already did. You made me fall." Amy raised an eyebrow and asked with a smirk on her face,

"Fall?" At this, the two started to close off the distance between them, oblivious to everything around them but themselves. Smirking even more now, Ian sent away the snakes that were hiding so that the two could be alone and answered,

"Yes. Fall. As in falling madly, deeply in love with you." Amy, giggling a little, put her arms around him as he put his arms around her. Content that she was in his grasp, she said,

"The feeling is perfectly mutual." Now smiling, the Prince and Princess of Serpents soon brought their lips together in the biggest "bondage" as the serpents liked to put it they've ever had.

_Epilogue_

_A couple of weeks later, Ian and Amy were soon married on the courtyard of the Palace of the Serpents. It was certainly a celebration to behold, and lo, on that same date, Ardolf and Livana, the werewolves, announced that they were going to have little werewolf pups to take care of in a couple of months or so. _

_Over the next couple of years, Ian and Amy kept themselves busy with their own four children:_

_Gino (Italian for 'born noble') and Aurelio (Italian for 'gold') ~ Two boy twins_

_Arwin (meaning 'prince') ~ Younger son_

_Irina (Russian for 'peace') ~ Youngest child, only daughter_

_Now, all is peaceful in the above world, where Dan became a much better leader to the Madrigals because of the harsh lesson he learned from his sister, and in the Palace of the Serpents, where every day is an adventure for everyone. At least, all is peaceful, for now._

_The End._

**A/N:**

**Duh duh duh duh! Finally, the story is complete! Now, I might do a sequel of one of Ian and Amy's children, but I might not as well. It all depends really. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story, because I know I have! Until then!**

**~storyteller221 :) **


End file.
